Automotive vehicles are required to include passenger and driver front airbags. Many vehicles now also include side airbags or side curtain airbags. Such systems typically include an accelerometer that measures the lateral acceleration to determine the presence of a crash event. Typically, an accelerometer is located on each side of the vehicle to determine if enough deceleration is present to deploy the corresponding airbag.
Other systems use two sensors such as a pressure sensor that measures the air pressure of the cavity of a door or other enclosed space and an accelerometer that measures lateral acceleration of the vehicle. Such systems deploy the airbag when either one of the sensors senses a crash event. In automotive vehicles, typically more than one type of restraint device is employed. These devices are suitable for different crash situations.
There is a need to provide for a vehicle side impact crash detection system that provides for an appropriate response to a crash event based upon comparison of the crash event with various levels of crash events preloaded into a Restraint Control Module (RCM) with memory so that the appropriate passive and active safety measures can be activated in response to the sensed crash event.